There have been strong indications recently that Wiggins wants to target the Giro d’Italia next year as he attempts to win all three Grand Tour titles. His best chance could come in 2013, with the rare appearance of a flattish 35-mile individual time trial in the Giro appearing to be heaven sent for the Briton.

In that case Froome, so impressive in the service of Wiggins when he finished second at this year’s Tour de France, would be Sky’s main contender for the 2013 Tour with Wiggins riding in support, a role the latter has said he would be happy to perform at an unspecified future date.

The devil is always in the details in Tour routes, though, and Sky have always said they will only make a final call after examining it thoroughly.

As the reigning Tour champion it is difficult to envisage Wiggins not going to the start line at Porto-Vecchio, in Corsica, on June 29 in some capacity. As a rider who has universally been accepted as a clean Tour winner, race organiser the Amary Sport Organisation will be desperate for him to appear.

“I do not know yet if I will be able to ride two big Tours, I will only be able to seek one win and I have the Tour in mind,” said Froome. “I think Bradley could be the leader on the Giro d’Italia and me on the Tour. But we still have to wait for next year’s programmes and talk about this with the managers.”

It is known for certain that the last mountain stage – some say the last stage of the race altogether – will feature a double ascent of Alpe d’Huez. In that event Froome’s case would grow stronger but the likelihood is still that the race will finish with a night stage around the streets of Paris and the traditional sprint down the Champs-Élysées.

Elsewhere there will be a summit finish on Mont Ventoux on the penultimate Sunday, a team time trial in Nice and an individual time trial finishing at Mont Saint-Michel in Normandy. A sprint stage on the opening day in Corsica should also give Mark Cavendish the opportunity of challenging for his first yellow jersey.

Meanwhile, Froome is the first Sky rider to have spoken publicly about the interviews Dave Brailsford and Dr Steve Peters are conducting with every member of staff as they seek to identify, and remove from the outfit, any rider who admits to past doping involvement. Froome was spoken to during a short team camp in London last week.

“I said I had no involvement in anything that has been going on,” said Froome. “Personally I think it’s more for the older employees on the team but obviously they’ve got to apply the same pressures to everyone. It took 10-15 minutes.

"I asked them some questions too, I wanted to find out what the process would be and it if was 100 per cent about anyone that had ever touched anything. It seems that’s the way it is, despite whatever losses it might mean to the team. It would set a new beginning and new platform to go from there. That’s their thinking.

“I can’t say I 100 per cent agree with it because there are individuals out there who probably have touched something in their career when they started but for whatever reason they may not have carried on as cycling evolved and ever since may have been doing something good for the sport. They’ll be painted with the same brush. However, it is where we need to go with the team.”